Places on the third and fourth rows of the grid for Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, who qualified sixth and eighth respectively this afternoon at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Now, it is just a case of putting on as good a show as possible for the millions of Scuderia Ferrari fans around the world at tomorrow’s final round of the world championship. Michael reckoned he made a slight mistake at Turn 2, while Rubens was reasonably satisfied with his performance, in what was his last ever qualifying for the Scuderia. With the team sure of third place in the Constructors’ championship, there is no specific target to aim for tomorrow, other than doing as well as possible. However, there is still an air of tension in the paddock as Renault and McLaren-Mercedes fight it out for the title, with the former’s Alonso having already taken the Drivers’ crown.

At this stage, Renault seems to have the edge, as they have the front row to themselves, for the first time since Malaysia in 2003. Fernando Alonso took pole with Giancarlo Fisichella alongside him. The second row features the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen in third place alongside the BAR-Honda of Jenson Button. Michael Schumacher will be on the outside of Juan Pablo Montoya on the third row. After a dark and murky Friday, Shanghai was warm and sunny and that is the forecast for tomorrow’s season finale. Whatever the outcome of Race 19, the general feeling in a very tired paddock will be one of relief!

Jean Todt: “The final qualifying of the season and the last one for Rubens at the wheel of a Ferrari, did not throw up anything particularly surprising. Sixth and eighth places are pretty much what we could have expected. A more detailed analysis of this session would take into account the different fuel loads which the various cars had on board and the track conditions when each driver made his run. Reliability, strategy and tyre performance and wear will be key factors in tomorrow’s race. For our part, we no longer have any particular targets in the two Championships. But we will do our utmost to close this very tough season in as dignified a fashion as possible.”
 

Michael Schumacher: “My initial feeling about my lap was that it was not very good, but when I look at the actual lap time, I have to be happy with that. It could have been worse and, given our strategy, we look to be in a good position for tomorrow. I don’t expect to be quicker than those ahead of me on the grid, but given what can happen in the race, I think realistically, we can expect to fight for points between fourth and sixth place. On my lap, I made a small mistake, running wide at Turn 2, but it did not cost me as much time as I thought. Maybe the very best I could have done was to be ahead of Juan Pablo. But that would not have been much of an advantage as he will be quicker than me in the race anyway.”

Rubens Barrichello: “It was a reasonable qualifying, even though the track was definitely not at its best when it was my turn to make my run. I am reasonably pleased. Maybe I could have been a few places further up, but all in all, this is okay. Tomorrow, I will give it my best shot to try and get the best result possible in my last race at the wheel of a Ferrari.”

Ross Brawn: “Both drivers produced reasonable laps, although neither of them was particularly clean, so maybe we could have squeezed a couple of extra tenths about. Nevertheless, pretty good and the tyres held up well for the full lap. I think the result for both cars is pretty much what we had expected before the session. We have a good strategy for tomorrow, so I hope that means we can pick up a few places in the race.”

Qualifying session; Michael Schumacher: 6th 1.35.301 3 laps chassis 249; Rubens Barrichello: 8th 1.35.610 3 laps chassis 248; Temperatures: air 24° C, track 3